When I opened my computer this afternoon I checked the Malecare prostate cancer crowd-funding site to see how things were going. To my great pleasure I discovered that Start A Cure (www.StartACure.org) had achieved it first funding success!

Sometime in the early afternoon some very kind individual made the pledge that completed the funding goal of one of our projects from Johns Hopkins University. The project, which is now funded will be conducted by Channing Judith Paller, M.D., Ph.D. It will analyze the stories of both black and white men first diagnosed with advanced disease. They will analyze the care leading up to their late diagnoses. The aim is to identify modifiable factors that may have contributed to missed or late diagnoses. What went wrong for each man individually? What patterns can be observed across the group?

The ultimate aim of this project is to target interventions to improve earlier detection of prostate cancer, reduce racial disparities, and save the lives of men whose cancer can be cured if it is diagnosed earlier.

Even though Dr. Paller’s research has now been completely funded, if you wish you can still make an additional pledge to her project until the funding deadline of December 16, 2013. To make a pledge to this or one of the many other extraordinary projects go to www.StartACure.com.

Besides Dr Paller’s project we have 21 other prostate cancer research projects that need to be funded. If you are looking for an unusual, but very meaningful holiday gift, a donation of a pledge is your best answer. I guarantee that the recipient will not have received a gift like this before and for a man or their family with prostate cancer it could be the most meaningful gift they will ever receive.

Congratulations to Dr. Paller, we all celebrate together on the successful completion of funding your most worthy project.

Joel T Nowak, M.A., M.S.W.